BMW’s new electric car features color-changing paint

MANILA: BMW has unveiled the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink at the CES 2022. The E Ink technology uses digitization to modify the exterior look of the vehicle based on various situations and personal preferences. The surface of the BMW iX featuring E Ink may change color at the driver’s prompting.

In a statement, BMW AG Development Board of Management Member Frank Weber said, “Digital experiences won't just be limited to displays in the future. There will be more and more melding of the real and virtual. With the BMW iX Flow, we are bringing the car body to life.”

The fluid color changes are made possible by specially developed body wrap that is fitted perfectly to the contours of the all-electric Sports Activity Vehicle. Electrophoretic technology brings different color pigments to the surface when activated by electrical signals, allowing the body skin to take on the desired coloration.

“The BMW iX Flow is an advanced research and design project and a great example of the forward thinking that BMW is known for,” BMW Group Design Head Adrian van Hooydonk stated.

The revolutionary E Ink technology allows for completely new ways to customize the vehicle’s appearance based on the driver’s aesthetic preferences, environmental conditions, or even functional needs. As a result, the technology allows for unprecedented personalization in the field of exterior design. The BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink exemplifies this potential to great use. In this context, the BMW Group is driving technological advancements so that future production vehicles can enjoy a new level of customization both on the outside and inside.

The color of a vehicle is already an expression of the driver’s personality. The range of exterior paint colors available for current BMW models is extensive. The desire for a highly expressive, extravagant, or sporty appearance on the outside, as well as the desire for a modest or elegant appearance, can be taken into account in this way. Each year, new variants that represent the qualities of the model in question are offered, allowing the brand to continue to establish trends in the field of exterior design.

In the future, new technologies will enable a whole new level of decision-making freedom. “This gives the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality or even their enjoyment of change outwardly and to redefine this each time they sit into their car. Similar to fashion or the status ads on social media channels, the vehicle then becomes an expression of different moods and circumstances in daily life,” BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink Project Head Stella Clarke.

Variable exterior color can also help in maintaining the wellness in the interior and the efficiency of the vehicle. This is achieved by taking into account the varied abilities of light and dark colors in terms of reflecting sunlight and the absorption of thermal energy. A white surface reflects significantly more light than a black surface.  By implication, the heating of the vehicle and passenger compartment as a result of bright strong sunlight and high outside temperatures can be lowered by transforming the exterior color to a light one. A dark outer skin will help the vehicle absorb substantially more heat from the sun in cooler weather.

In both circumstances, the selective color changes can help reduce the required amount of cooling and heating produced by the vehicle’s air conditioning. This lowers the amount of energy needed by the vehicle’s electrical system, as well as its fuel or electricity consumption. In an all-electric vehicle, changing the color to match the weather can also help extend the range. In the interior, for example, the technology may protect the dashboard from overheating.

E Ink technology itself is very energy efficient. Unlike displays or projectors, electrophoretic technology does not require energy to maintain the desired color state. Only during the brief color changing phase does current flow.

Electrophoretic coloring is based on an E Ink technology that is best known for its application in eReader displays. Many millions of microcapsules with a diameter equal to the thickness of a human are embedded in the surface coating of the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink. Negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments are found in each of these microcapsules. Depending on the setting, stimulation by means of an electrical field causes either white or black pigments to gather at the surface of the microcapsule, giving the car body the desired hue.

The application of several precisely fitted ePaper segments to a car body is required to achieve this result. To ensure that the segments represent the vehicle’s characteristic contours and the ensuring variations in light and shadow, generative design approaches are used. These techniques provide the formability and flexibility required to precisely customize the ePaper to the vehicle’s design lines.

The use of laser cutting technology ensures that each segment is produced with extreme precision. The entire body is warmed and sealed after the segments are applied and the power supply for stimulating the electrical field is connected to provide optimum and consistent color reproduction throughout every color change.

Photos from BMW

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